Friday, December 6, 2013

Pasta and Vegetables in White Sauce

If a lightly seasoned cheesy flavored sauce is what you crave then the white sauce with cheese is just right for you. The basic white or Béchamel sauce as it is known, can be enhanced with the addition of herbs and black pepper. This seasoned white sauce is a commonly added sauce to pasta / steamed veggies. Today, I combined all three - pasta, vegetables and white sauce to make a one dish meal. I resort to One dish meals when I am the only one eating at home. Most times I try and add as many vegetables to ensure I do not miss my daily quota. Quite often, the hassle of cooking for only one person overwhelms and we typically end up making a meal rich in carb & protein but without the required fibre and vitamins.

It is commonly seen that people have chapati with chhole or paneer or aloo or chicken with absolutely no vegetables at all in that meal and believe it to be a complete meal. Many a times a dinner menu has paneer / aloo, chicken, a dal, roti and pulao with no vegetables whatsoever. Including a vegetable stir fry or a tossed salad would have made this very same menu a complete meal. Suffice it to say, try and add veggies and fruits for a healthy body and especially if there are children in the family.

For now, let's get back to our recipe.

Ingredients

for white sauce

Butter - 1 tbsp

Flour - 1.5 tbsp

Milk - 1 cup

Cheese grated - 4 tbsp

White sauce is usually made with white flour but this time I used wheat flour and it was as good. To make the sauce heat some butter in a pan, when it melts completely, add the floor and mix well. Keep the heat on low and slowly add milk little by little and keep stirring to make a smooth sauce on low heat. In case there are lumps cheat a little and give it a quick whisk in a blender. Now I am sure the purists will scorn but less experts like me have to find a way around. Continue on low heat and add the cheese now and a pinch of black pepper and oregano as well. Take it off heat and use as suggested.

This white sauce can be made for any recipe suggesting it.

Pasta - 1 cup

Vegetables - 1 cup

(I used a mix of baby corn, broccoli, mushroom, green beans and capsicum)

Black pepper pwd - a few dashes

Oregano - few dashes

Salt to taste

Boil about 3 cups of water, add some salt and cook the pasta in it.

Clean and cut the vegetables and steam it lightly with a dash of salt. Add a dash of black pepper and oregano and mix. Stir these vegetables into the white sauce and keep aside. Drain the cooked pasta and add it to the vegetable and sauce mix. Mix well and add a little more cheese if you like.